Chronicles of the Orphans
by AnimeWolfGirl9
Summary: The days before the outbreak had been happier than Yu would have ever admitted... if only he would have known at the time how much he would come to appreciate those memories. (Yu's time at the orphanage before the outbreak; aka a bunch of humor one-shots about the Hyakuya orphanage family)
1. A New Brother

**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters/places from Seraph of the End and everything belongs to its respective owners.**

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Chapter 1: A New Brother

There had been several calls sent in to the police about the noise level in the quaint house next door. A woman's distressed screams could be heard inside, witnesses said. By the time the police got to the house, it had caught fire. By the time the fire was put out, everyone inside was dead except for one: eight year old Yuichiro.

With no other relatives able to take him and the fear of an organized killing, the authorities sent the boy to the Hyakuya orphanage, where he would be well cared for. Yuichiro knew the truth though. His parents were dead because of him, because they had thought that he had to be killed before 'the end' came.

Whatever that had meant, he didn't know. He just knew he wanted to be alone, anyplace other than here. The bright colors and smiles of the other children were enough to make him want to vomit; it was a stark contrast to what he was feeling.

"Children, I would like to introduce you to your newest brother, Yuichiro," the caretaker motioned towards the boy standing beside her before smiling at the rest of the kids again, "make sure he feels welcome here."

"OK!" an extremely happy-looking child with blonde hair raised his hand, smiling excitedly at him. Yu decided that he definitely didn't want to be around that kid, so as soon as the introduction was done, he took his small bag filled with some belongings (he really didn't have anything of his own that hadn't perished in the fire, so the authorities had given him a small 'care' package) to the room they would be sleeping in.

The room was pretty bare compared to the larger one he had been in. This one had a grey wall with two windows and several beds filled the space. He did a count of the beds and it seemed like there wasn't enough for all of the children to sleep in. Did that mean that some of them slept on the floor or shared? _I'd take the floor over the latter._

"Hello," a friendly voice came from behind him, causing him to peek over his shoulder at the owner – the blonde haired boy from before. "My name is Mika. Everyone here – we've all had families in the past, but now we have a new one. You'll-"

"'Family'?" Yu repeated the word bitterly, cutting the other boy off. "That's stupid. My mother was screaming that I had to die and my father tried to kill me. If you ask me, a 'family' is-"

"I'm sorry about that," Mika's voice was softer and something had flashed in his eyes at the black-haired boy's words. There was sadness, but also something else: something protective when Yu had started insulting their 'family.' "My parents used to beat me up. Then one day, they got tired of me and threw me out of a car. My old family wasn't so great either, but I really do like my new one. You'll learn to like it too."

The other boy's hand was held out towards him. Yu simply stared at it before he felt uncomfortable; he had to turn away and continue unpacking. It was stupid, all of it was. _They just don't understand,_ he thought, listening for any signs that the blonde would leave.

Unexpectedly (or maybe his unconscious self wasn't surprised), Mika knelt down beside him, leaning on his knees for support. "Do you need any help unpacking?" the kindness radiating from the other orphan was starting to get on his nerves, but he wasn't wanting to start a fight.

"No."

"Are you sure? We could find a place to put your things," Mika looked around the room before another smile appeared on his face, "we could even share a cot, or you could just have mine."

The other boy's words made Yu stop unpacking. Why couldn't he just be left alone? "I'd rather take the floor."

For some reason, the blonde laughed. Yu didn't understand what was so funny. "It's not infested with germs or anything. We're able to wash the covers every three weeks or so."

The black-haired boy stood up, bringing the bag and its contents with him. He walked to the other side of the room, leaning the bag against the wall. There, that would be his space, or at least the closest thing he could get to space. It didn't seem like privacy existed here.

He heard humming behind him, coming from Mika. _Of course this couldn't get any worse; he's overly optimistic, won't leave me alone, and hums. Just great._

"Hey, I have a better idea!" the blonde's voice was filled with excitement as he hurried towards Yu. "I can give you a tour. This place isn't very big, but it's good to know where everything is."

Yu stared at the other orphan for a few seconds, knowing he wouldn't give up. "I don't really have a choice, do I?" he asked, figuring he should at least do something. Maybe then he would be left alone.

"Come on, be happier about it!" Mika laughed again as the blonde grabbed his hand, pulling him out of the room. Yu realized that it was going to be a long day.

* * *

Hello everyone! As a notice, I am not dead… just really overwhelmed. This fanfiction has been in the works behind the scenes for a while now, and is the second part to AnimeWolfGirl16's "Before" (so if you haven't read that one, I highly recommend going to do so!). I felt kind of terrible with my lack of updates in the recent past, so I figured since this was pre-written (and I have a lot of it planned out) that this would hopefully sate everyone until I can get my other fanfiction chapters completed. Don't worry, they are in the works and will be posted (hopefully) soon, but things have been quite hectic. Working two jobs (one retail) and finishing out a degree has taken up the majority of my time recently, but I'm hoping to get fully back into writing once finals end. So until then, thank you for bearing with me and I hope you enjoy this! On another note, I know it's not exactly like the anime/manga, but more of a rewrite of Mika and Yu meeting. I'm going to post the next chapter sometime next week, which is where the diverging starts. Also, the timeline for this is probably going to be wrong in accordance with the timing of actual events, but I want to write as many one-shots as possible for this one :)

-AnimeWolfGirl9


	2. A Safe Place

Chapter 2: A Safe Place

Mika knew that change was a hard thing to get used to. Every child in the Hyakuya orphanage had been through that phase, so when Yu had made several not-so-subtle indications of it happening early that morning, the blonde really wasn't surprised. _Maybe the sooner he gets through that phase, then the sooner he can accept our family._

It wasn't until half-way through the day that their newest brother hit the breaking point. Story time had just ended, with the black-haired boy sitting a well amount of distance away from the group of children. Mika had been helping Akane cut up vegetables for the soup that their caretaker was making for dinner.

Story telling was a bit different now that some of the older children were starting to learn how to read. Either that or they would take the pictures from some of the books and make new stories out of them. The amount of creativity that the other orphans possessed made Mika happy. It gave them something to do while he helped out.

The blonde glanced over at the boy closest in age to him. Yu was sitting in an old wooden chair in the corner of the room, eyes partially closed. It was possible that the other boy was starting to fall asleep, especially since the blonde knew he hadn't been getting a lot of rest since coming to the orphanage. _Maybe Yu-chan will read to them one day, when he's more comfortable here._

Mika smiled as he went back to cutting the carrots, making sure to take care with the small knife he was using. The sounds of the other children putting the books away echoed through the room.

"Yu-nii, did your parents used to read you books?" the question came from little Taichi. The smaller boy was looking towards their newest occupant as the rest of the children crowded nearby. Mika could tell instantly that the dark-haired boy was uncomfortable. The other children started to rattle off their questions too, most on Yu's former home.

Just as the blonde had finished cutting the carrots, he heard Yu utter a small curse before fleeing through the doorway. The room was silent for a few moments as the younger children looked confused. He shared a glance with Akane, who went to explain things gently to them: Yu wasn't ready to talk about his former family, and maybe he never would be, but they needed to give him some time first.

"I can go check on him," Mika volunteered as he glanced at the caretaker, who shook her head with a kind smile.

"Give him a few minutes alone. He'll think things through and come to an understanding, just like you did."

Her words made him stay put as he continued to help with their next meal. Yes, Mika would follow his own advice and give Yu a bit of time to think.

* * *

 _Yu came up gasping for air as the hands that had held him down relinquished their force on his small body. Cold water filled the bathtub to the brim, a few streams of water cascading down its sides as he struggled. His body instinctively shivered to warm itself as the room slowly stopped warping._

 _His father had left the bathroom door partially open, where several empty bottles of alcohol were scattered on the hallway floor. His mother's screams had stopped a while ago, just shortly before he had been forced into the bathroom, but not before he had seen what had silenced her._

 _His father's absence was both a relief and a disturbance. Noises came from a few rooms down, floating through the partially open doorway. Yu wanted to get out of the bathtub, to go and lock himself in his room and hope that he was safe, but the weight of his soaked clothing made movement hard._

 _Did his father think he was dead? Normally, the question wouldn't have invaded his mind, but the fact that his father had left the room and hadn't returned made it likely. Yu had felt like he had been held underwater for hours, but he knew it couldn't have been that long; not if he was still alive. He had felt like his lungs were going to burst, but now that feeling was quickly fading._

 _His mother was dead and his father had tried to kill him…_ Why? What's going on?

 _His hands had latched onto the side of the bathtub, fully prepared to pull himself out, when he heard glass shatter from another room. The sound startled him, making him duck back down into the water again. Black hair danced in the water at the edge of his vision as he peaked out at the door again._

 _It took him three seconds to realize that the room outside was changing colors, from the normal brown of the carpet to a bright orange. Flames leapt up from the floor, quickly consuming all in their path._

"Yu-chan?" a voice startled him awake, causing him to jolt a little in the small space. Confusion ran through him before he recognized his surroundings. His face was currently pressed against the cold inside of the bathtub where he had run to, getting away from the rest of the children. "Are you alright? Can you open the door? It's been five hours."

Now that the blonde had mentioned it, the light in the room was dimmer than it had been. He sat up and glared at the door, remembering what had caused him to retreat and lock the door in the first place.

"Go away," he answered irritably, shifting his position in the just big enough tub. He didn't want another lesson from the other orphan. In fact, he felt like he could stay here for a long time.

"Dinner's going to be ready soon. I tried opening the door, but the lock won't budge." _Like that will make a difference on whether I'll open it or not._ "Also, some of the other kids have to go to the bathroom."

"Go find another bathroom."

"This is the only one," Mika's calm answer made him utter another small curse. He did remember now that this was the sole bathroom of the orphanage – the other boy had told him that on their 'tour' – but he was determined to not come out.

"Then tell them to go pee in the bushes," his answer was met with the most unlikely response: from the noises coming from outside, Mika had kicked the door and then tried to unsuccessfully rattle it open. So the blonde did have a temper…

"Yu-chan!" the other orphan's annoyed tone came from the other side of the door as the noises died down. Of course, the other boy was hinting at the horrible suggestion he had made: they couldn't even go to the bathroom outside because it was winter. Yu really didn't care though. A sigh came from the other side of the door as Mika slumped against the wall. "Taichi really didn't mean any harm by it. They were all just curious."

Yu didn't feel as though he needed – or wanted – to answer. He simply lied back down in the bathtub, waiting for the other boy to get the hint to leave him alone. Sure, it had been five hours, but the memories were too fresh in his mind.

Another sigh, followed by more noises, came from the other side of the door. The black-haired boy didn't pay much attention to them and he found himself dozing off again. Maybe Mika could just let him rest for a while longer…

"That took a bit longer than I would have liked."

Yu cursed in surprise when he found that Mika's voice was now closer. In fact, the blonde was now standing in the bathroom, closing the wooden door – that was supposed to be locked – behind him.

"Get out!" Yu hid himself in the bathtub again, finding anger filling him when the blonde laughed a bit. "How did you even get in here?!"

"Paperclips are very useful against locked doors," Mika's tone was light, but his blue eyes were weighted with concern. It was a strange contradiction, one that wanted to make the dark-haired boy hide again.

The other orphan put the seat of the toilet down, sitting a few feet away from where Yu was 'hiding' in the bathtub. He was silent for a few moments, blue eyes watching, before he spoke.

"Hey, Yu-chan. I'm just curious, but…"

 _Not another question about my past,_ he mentally sighed at the other boy's words, wanting more than anything to be left alone.

"Why did you hide in here?"

"Huh?" Yu sat up from the bottom of the bathroom, green eyes looking at Mika's blue ones in surprise. Out of all of the things that the older boy could have asked, he wanted to know that?

"Well, it's just that it seems like you could have gone anywhere; you could have even ran away – which I'm glad that you didn't – but why the bathroom?" A bit of amusement was laced into the boy's words, but curiosity and concern were more apparent. Yu simply stared at him for a moment before he redirected his gaze to the wall.

 _What harm is there in telling him the truth?_

"Because… it's the only place I feel safe," Yu expected the other boy to laugh again, but he didn't, which was a relief. At least Mika didn't think he was crazy right off the bat.

"What do you mean by that? No one here is going to harm you."

The black-haired boy shook his head, not quite believing what had been said but knowing that so far, they hadn't hurt him. "It's not that. It's just… when the house caught on fire, a filled bathtub was the only thing that saved me from dying."

Mika was silent; blinking a few times as understanding seemed to fill him. Endless compassion filled his blue eyes. "Oh, Yu-chan… that does make sense."

"You don't think I'm crazy?" Yu gave him a skeptical look, causing the blonde to emit a small laugh.

"Of course not. We all have a place we feel safe at, but… the other kids really do need to use the bathroom."

The orphan stood up and leaned at the edge of the bathtub, giving Mika a look. "You need to go too, don't you?"

The blonde simply smiled and hummed for a moment. "Maybe."

"Ulterior motives," Yu mumbled as he passed the other boy on the way out the door. Mika laughed again, following him.

"I'll let the others know that the bathroom is open again, and then we can eat dinner."

As Mika ran ahead of him to the main room, Yu figured that this place couldn't be all bad. Maybe he could get used to it.

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So I know this is a bit later than I wanted it to be, but here is the second chapter! To explain, Yu's backstory in this probably isn't like it is in the manga. This came off of another roleplaying prompt that my sister and I did ("Yu tends to hide in the bathroom when he's upset") and it warped into this chapter. As to if Mika can picklock doors… I'll leave that up to you :) I broke the rule a little bit when including Mika's POV at the beginning, but I thought it was necessary to understand both parts of the chapter. Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and please let me know any suggestions in a review!

-AnimeWolfGirl9


	3. Partial Voodooism

Chapter 3: Partial Voodooism

It was on a day that Mika had gone to the store with the director that Yu realized the younger children might not be as 'innocent' as the blonde had believed them to be. Sure, the other kids did all sorts of weird crafts to keep themselves entertained, but this one was – by far – the strangest he had ever heard of.

"You want me to do what?" he asked, not quite understanding what they wanted. Taichi stared up at him impatiently, almost like he was supposed to understand everything.

"Come on!" Instead of restating what the child had said, Taichi pulled him from the chair he had been sitting on – a considerable feat since the child was smaller than him. Yu blamed it on his surprise. He was led over to the table that was used for crafts. All of the other children were reading a story, making the black-haired boy generally confused.

 _No one else is doing the craft…_

"Here," Taichi passed him a piece of paper and some crayons. "You use these."

"To do… what exactly?" Yu had to figure that he felt his patience running short. The younger children all expected him to know everything without explaining. It was like they were trying to turn him into another copy of Mika and Akane.

The brown-haired girl was doing laundry in one of the other rooms, most likely trying to help out. Yu wasn't sure what else to do, so he mainly sat around unless Mika pulled him into something. Since the blonde was at the store, the orphan hadn't really been doing anything.

"It's a game we play…" Taichi glanced at the other children, almost looking wary as he lowered his voice to a whisper; "called 'paper torture.'"

"That sounds stupid," the black-haired boy instantly responded, not caring what the younger child thought of it. Taichi glanced at the doorway, where Ako was seated nearby, reading a book on ponies.

"No one else will do it with me. Please, Yu-nii?" the smaller boy begged in another whisper, looking up at him with pleading eyes. Yu almost wanted to say 'no' – especially after what Taichi had called him – but he found that he couldn't.

"Fine." The black-haired boy sat down in one of the chairs with a sigh. "What do we have to do?"

"Take the crayons and draw someone…" the explanation didn't sound too bad, until the latter part was revealed. "… and then draw all the bad things you want to happen to them."

"Wha-? That's messed up. Why would you want to do that?" Yu felt slight disgust run through him. What was with this kid?

"That's why it's called 'paper torture.'" Taichi said the words like they explained everything. The child picked up a crayon and started to draw. "And besides, it makes you feel better for all of the nasty things they did to you."

The older orphan was silent in his seat, not quite sure of what to think. _I don't have to draw what he says. I can just draw._ The thought made him pick up a crayon and place it to the paper. However, nothing came to him.

Yu looked over at Taichi, who was busy drawing a figure being shocked by electricity. The younger boy looked happy, maybe too happy for what he was drawing. The black-haired boy's hand started to scribble on the page as he thought.

 _This really is stupid. I couldn't do this, even if I wanted to, because anything that I would want to happen to them… it already has._

Yu felt frustration start to become pent up inside him, so much so that the crayon he was drawing with snapped. He discarded it and grabbed another. The room was silent, other than a set of small footsteps. Green eyes searched the room, seeing that Ako had left through the doorway. He didn't think anything of it though.

"Taichi, what are you doing?!" a surprised shout came from behind them as something hit the floor. Yu was snapped out of his daze, seeing that Mika had returned with the caretaker. The blonde had dropped the bags he had been holding, instead choosing to run over to the table. One glance at the younger boy's drawing and Yu knew they were in trouble. "Taichi, what did I say about 'partial voodooism'?!"

The other boy's words caused Yu to become confused. 'Partial voodooism'? That wasn't what Taichi had called it though…

The younger boy had completely ignored Mika and instead leaned over to look at Yu's page. "What did you draw, Yu-nii?" The words made the black-haired boy look down at his page. He didn't even think that he had drawn much, but when he looked, he saw blurs of red and orange. _Fire._

A feeling of nausea entered him, causing him to get up from the table. "This is stupid," he repeated, walking past Mika and out of the room. As he left, he heard Mika scolding the younger boy.

"Taichi, you made Yu-chan run to the bathroom again." Mika's words angered him, forcing him faster to the safe room.

"Shut up, Mika!"

He locked the door once he did reach the bathroom, cursing a moment later because he was pretty sure that Mika would be able to open it. He leaned against the door, breaths ragged as pain squeezed his chest. The mirror reflected his face, green eyes shining with unshed tears.

"Yu-chan, I should have explained." he wasn't even surprised when Mika's voice came from the other side of the door. The door rattled a moment later, as sigh quickly following. "You locked the door."

Yu didn't answer, instead continuing to try and calm himself. All he could think about was the flames. What had it felt like, to be burned like that? He choked on the tears, for a moment wishing that he would have burned too. He didn't even know where the notion came from.

"It's no use. Nothing's worth it," he whispered, leaning his head against the wall, feeling as though something was crushing him. More noises came from outside the door – probably Mika pick locking the door again – but he didn't care.

How much longer was it that Mika finally got the door open? Yu didn't know. The blonde seemed surprised that the dark-haired boy was so close to the door, not hiding in the bathtub like last time.

"Yu-chan…" Mika trailed off, taking a step forward hesitantly. "Taichi… he had it really hard at his old home, so he doesn't quite understand…"

 _Understand…?_

The blonde gave another sigh before continuing. "You remember when I gave you that tour, there was a list…"

"Of things not to do," the black-haired boy murmured, remembering the list. Now that he thought about it, the words 'partial voodooism' did sound familiar. The list had been written on a piece of construction paper, with several numbers being written in different colored markers.

"Yeah, we made that list shortly after I came here. The other kids… they used to play that game, but they didn't understand that it was a wrong thing to do. They've gotten better but Taichi is a bit of a troublemaker."

"That's an understatement."

Mika's laugh sounded forced, almost like he himself was feeling lost too. "What else are we supposed to do? We all have our faults…"

Yu finally was able to look over at the other boy, seeing the strangest look in the other boy's blue eyes. It made him unable to think because of the revelation that came with it.

In another instant, the expression was gone, replaced with Mika's normal attitude. "Well, when you feel better, I can teach you how to make stew for dinner."

The bathroom door shut behind the other orphan, leaving Yu alone again. The pain hadn't gone away and Mika's strange expression still stuck in his mind. The realization came back to him, forcing his gaze to the ground.

 _It's not just me… everyone here… even Mika… is hurting._

* * *

Hello again! It's been awhile since the last update, but here we are. As I look back at the chapters in this fanfiction, I realize I'm hitting everyone with a lot of depressing chapters, so I apologize for that! The next few are going to be happier! I think I have around… twenty-something chapters planned for this fanfiction, which I realize timeline-wise isn't accurate with the actual source material but… I can't really help it. One-shots with this group of orphans is too much fun~! Either way, I hope everyone somehow ended up enjoying the chapter (despite the angst), and please tell me your thoughts in a review!

~AnimeWolfGirl9


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